


Drowning

by Ambrose



Series: Dare to Write Challenge [49]
Category: Hamlet - All Media Types, Hamlet - Shakespeare
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 18:38:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15540507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambrose/pseuds/Ambrose
Summary: All her life she felt like she was drowning.





	Drowning

All her life she felt like she was drowning. Drowning in expectations, from her father, her brother, the court. To be a good lady, a good woman, a good daughter, as good as her own mother, as lovely as her lover thinks she should be (even if that is not her), courteous enough, kind enough, distant enough... She is drowning. There is no room for her to breathe in the carcan of all their demands, there is no room for her in the mold that they've made. She cannot breathe, she cannot keep her head out of the water. She holds on to the branches, aghast, trying to get her breathing back, in the few moments that people stop adding to the weights that pull her to the bottom. When her father is not here, when she can stay alone in her quarters, away from the court... But she knows it will not be enough. One day, the branches will break under the weight, and she will drown. 

She did not expect the people around her to start cutting the branches, she did not think everyone was so hellbent on seeing her lose her grip. She thought they did not mean to step on her fingers, and yet. Now she is not so sure. And what do they expect from her, really? 

She is tired of holding on, and the rain starts to fall and the thunder starts to strike all around her, and nothing seems to be holding her back to the shore. The currents get stronger and stronger, pulling her down by the dress, and finally, she lets go. 

And for a second there, before she truly drowns, there is no more struggle. She left all expectations on the shore, in the ground with the body of her father. And for the first time in her short life, she can float freely down the river, ni weight holding her down. Until the inexorable waters catch up with her, and weed grasp at her legs and pull her to the riverbed. There was never a way out for her. 


End file.
